


Lend a Hand

by Golden_Asp



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Bucky and Tony are trolls, Humor, M/M, Shiro's floating arm, Steve really might not deserve all this, Voltron, gratuitous hand puns, kind of cracky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 06:52:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18405395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Golden_Asp/pseuds/Golden_Asp
Summary: Bucky sometimes takes his arm off and leaves it in random places to freak people out.  Particularly Steve.  When Tony gives him a remote neural link so he can make it move when it's not attached to his body, Steve isn't sure what he's done to deserve this.Tony just thinks it's hilarious.





	Lend a Hand

**Author's Note:**

> This came from a random idea I got this morning and I had to write it. It's supposed to be funny, and it was fun to throw Voltron references in there.
> 
> my first winteriron (although this could be seen as platonic or fwb). I have fallen into this ship and I love it.
> 
> not beta-ed

The first time Steve found Bucky’s arm sans Winter Solider, he might have panicked just a little. It’s not _normal_ to find your best friend’s super high tech prosthetic limb just laying across the counter in his private bathroom. He ran around the compound, desperately calling Bucky’s name, only to find him sitting with Tony Stark like nothing was wrong. Both men had looked at him like he was nuts, their holographic chess board rotating between them.

Bucky had grinned when Steve handed him the arm, tucking it under his chair.

“Sometimes I just gotta take it off and air out a bit, ya know?”

Steve really didn’t know, but Bucky seemed content so he let it go.

He hadn’t noticed the way Tony had burst out laughing the moment Steve had left the room, exchanging a high five with Bucky through the hologram.

Hell, Steve hadn’t even been aware that the arm could come off until he found it that first time. Now he was finding it everywhere; his bed, the quinjet, the armory, the gym, the kitchen, the bathroom, one memorable time when he’d opened the toilet lid and sat down only to feel a fucking hand against his ass (he had a feeling that one was on Stark, but he’d never leapt off a toilet so fast in his life).

He was, quite frankly, getting tired of finding Bucky’s arm everywhere. On the flip side, the way Buck’s eyes lit up with laughter every time Steve brought his arm back to him was worth it, so he put up with it.

He wasn’t the only target. Sam was a close second, although as far as Steve was aware Falcon hadn’t had it end up in his toilet yet. Wanda had only been pranked once and Steve had to admit seeing Bucky’s arm chase the man through the hall and smack him upside the head thanks to Wanda’s powers was hilarious. Vision simply returned the arm to him with a soft smile before disappearing through the wall. Steve didn’t think Natasha had been the victim of an arm attack yet, but perhaps that was because Bucky was smart enough not to prank Black Widow. Clint had come across the arm multiple times in the vents, usually blocking him from going where he wanted to go.

Tony was not a target. Steve didn’t know if it was because Tony was the one orchestrating the arm attacks, or if it was because Bucky needed Tony to keep repairing the arm. Tony always had his patented shit eating smirk on his face whenever he was in the room when someone returned the arm to Buck. It was highly unnerving to Steve; that smile on Stark’s face was never a good sign.

He was planning something, and Bucky would probably go right along for the ride.

:::

Bucky’s arm was on the kitchen counter, fingers curled loosely around nothing, shoulder joint empty. Steve sighed, turning away from it and turning to the fancy coffee machine. The damn thing knew all of them and their preferences, and sometimes Steve missed old fashioned coffee machines, not the ones that talked to him and called his shield a Frisbee (Thanks a lot, Tony).

Something moved in the corner of his vision.

Steve froze, instantly on high alert. He kept his eyes on the slowly filling coffee pot in front of him, using his peripheral vision to see what the heck moved.

Bucky’s fingers flexed.

Steve’s heart pounded in his chest. He had to be imagining it. Buck’s arm never moved before unless it was attached to him. Something about neural transmissions and being attached to his nervous system. Steve had admittedly blanked out during that part of Tony’s brief on the, in Tony’s words, ‘miraculous miracle that I’ve made for one defrosted super soldier’.

Steve let out a breath, turning his attention back to his coffee. He was just tired, that was all. It was fine.

Steve poured the coffee into his mug and lifted it, taking a fortifying sip. 

Bucky’s arm leapt onto its fingers, scuttling across the counter towards Steve, bicep curled over the elbow like a scorpion’s stinger.

Steve would forever deny the very high pitched shriek that left his mouth as the damn arm leapt at him. He dropped the mug, grabbed the arm by the wrist, and wrestled it to the ground. The fingers reached for his face, the arm bucking in his grasp.

“JAMES BUCHANAN BARNES!” Steve bellowed, stalking down the hall holding the writhing arm in his grip. His shirt was stained with coffee, his toes burned from the same hot liquid (so what if it was already healing, it was the principle of the thing). He was going to beat some sense into Bucky with his own arm.

He rounded a corner in time to see Bucky and Tony staring at him, identical expressions of mirth on their faces.

“Run!” Bucky yelled, half grabbing Tony around the waist with his flesh arm and bolting down the hall. Their laughter trailed them as Steve sprinted after them, Bucky’s fingers clasped tightly around his wrist. 

Steve gave chase, Bucky’s arm constantly fighting to get free. He finally cornered the two, noting briefly that Bucky had half shoved Tony behind him even though both men were laughing.

“Hey, Cap,” Tony said, trying to get a handle on his snorting laughter, “looks like you have a free hand there.”

Bucky snorted, both men sliding down the wall as they laughed. The metal arm in Steve’s grip finally went still, a heavy weight in his hand. 

“You don’t think this has gotten out of hand?” Steve asked, dropping the arm across Bucky’s lap.

He didn’t get it when both men started laughing again, leaning on each other for support.

Steve threw his hands in the air and stalked away. It was nice to hear Bucky’s laugh, even if it was at his expense.

:::

“I could totally put repulsors on your arm,” Tony said, half bent over Bucky’s metal arm and prodding it.

“You want to give me an Iron Man arm?” Bucky drawled, wrinkling his nose as Tony’s hair tickled it. Working on the arm was easier when it was attached to Bucky’s nervous system instead of chasing Steve around the compound.

“I was more thinking so it could fly, but if you want an Iron Man arm I’m totally down for that.”

“You want my arm to fly?”

“Just imagine the look on Steve’s face when it starts flying after him,” Tony said dreamily. 

Bucky laughed, clenching his fist when Tony tapped his wrist with a screwdriver. 

“I already told you no on the death ray in my palm.”

“Which is what a repulsor basically is, Tastee Freez.”

“Admit it, you were thinking Death Star.”

“Maybe. It would’ve been cool. Oh! I could make it glow! That won’t be hard.”

“Why would I need my arm to glow, doll?”

“Why not?” Tony asked, tilting his head in confusion. “Purple. We’ll make it glow purple.”

“No,” Bucky said, flicking Tony on the forehead. “Never should’ve let you binge _Voltron_ last week.”

“Hey! That arm was pretty cool. Not as cool as this one, of course. Shiro had a flying arm.”

“That stupid Altean arm was the stupidest fucking thing.”

“Fair point. But it did fly! And he could send it after people.”

“No, Tony. I like having a bicep, thank you very much.”

Tony leered at him and squeezed Bucky’s biceps. “I like your biceps too, Buckaroo.”

Bucky flexed for him, making Tony laugh.

“So, about the flying arm?” Tony asked.

Bucky huffed. “As long as I get to keep my bicep.”

“You’re the best!”

Bucky shook his head, watching as Tony went to work on the arm again. 

“Steve was so pissed that you let me watch _Voltron_ ,” Bucky said.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Why? Because I showed a one armed, former amnesiac, prisoner of war assassin a cartoon about another one armed, slight amnesiac, prisoner of war who was made to do bad things? Did he think it was going to give you a flash back or was he offended by giant robot cats?”

“Had to be the giant robot cats,” Bucky said with a straight face.

Tony grinned at him, grabbing a pair of magnifying goggles and snapping them over his eyes.

“Yeah, the horror of me showing you a show with a character I thought you could identify with.”

“You’re absolutely right. Sendak is my spirit animal.”

“Jesus, you’re a dick.”

Bucky laughed, flexing his fingers for Tony. “It was nice seeing a character with a prosthetic arm and PTSD,” he admitted.

“Sendak?”

“Jerk. Ya know I’m talking about Shiro.”

“Yeah, yeah. Maybe we should sit Steve down and make him watch it. Except for season eight. We don’t talk about season eight.”

“Not a bad idea. I’m not sharing my popcorn with him.”

“You don’t even share your popcorn with me,” Tony whined, sitting back and shoving the goggles up on his head.

“Maybe ya just haven’t asked me nice enough,” Bucky said, his Brooklyn accent bleeding through heavily. Tony grinned and tapped the arm.

“I’m making you a lovely flying arm with a bicep. Pretty please share your popcorn with lil ol’ me?”

“Don’t you give me those sad puppy eyes, Stark!”

:::

Steve poked his head into the room, looking around for Bucky’s arm. The damn thing had taken to following him around, stealing his briefs, and basically being a menace. Steve was sure Tony was behind it, but Bucky certainly seemed to be enjoying himself.

The coast was clear. 

Steve walked into the living room, flopping onto the couch. He needed to talk to Buck and Tony about a cease fire. He was getting tired of being constantly on the look out for that stupid metal arm.

He half dozed, whatever trashy reality show Thor’d been watching before he left still playing in the background.

He heard a sound but didn’t move. It sounded like someone walked into the living room; nothing he needed to worry about.

He heard the familiar whine of a repulsor powering up and his eyes snapped open. Bucky’s arm flew at his face, the shoulder joint glowing.

Steve caught it by the wrist, the entire couch flipping over with the force of the attack. He struggled with, rolling onto his stomach and trying to pin it under him. He looked up to see Tony and Bucky leaning against each other, both laughing hysterically.

“Looks like you could use a _hand_ ,” Tony cried, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

“He played right into my hand,” Bucky howled.

“Gotta _hand_ it to him,” Tony giggled.

Steve finally pinned the bucking arm beneath him, breathing hard.

“Look who finally got the upper hand,” he gasped, causing Bucky and Tony to start cracking up all over again. Steve groaned when he realized what he said, dropping his head to the carpet. “I hate you both.”

The arm went limp under him, Bucky laughing too hard to keep up the remote neural link. Steve leapt to his feet, grasping the metal arm by the bicep. He whacked them both over the head with it, making them squawk and swat at him.

He dropped the arm on their heads and walked out. Maybe Wanda would let him take refuge in her room for a while; Bucky and Tony wouldn’t search for him there.

Bucky and Tony slumped to the floor, still giggling. Bucky cradled his arm, twisting it easily back into the socket Tony had built for his shoulder.

“Oh god, that was perfect,” Tony said, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.

“It really was,” Bucky said, nudging Tony with his shoulder. Tony leaned against him, laughing whenever he thought of Steve’s face when the arm flew at him.

They sat on the floor, trying to get themselves under control.

“Should we give Stevie a break for a while?” Bucky asked, scratching at Tony’s scalp with his nails. Tony groaned, letting his forehead thump against Bucky’s shoulder.

“Sure. Let’s give him a false sense of security. It’ll make it so much sweeter when we surprise him again.”

Bucky grinned. “FRIDAY, you did record all that, right?”

“Of course I did,” FRIDAY’s lilting voice said, sounding nearly offended. “It’s been filed under ‘Steve Rogers screams like a girl—blackmail.’”

“You’re the best, baby girl,” Tony said.

“I know,” FRIDAY replied.

Tony rubbed his cheek against Bucky’s shoulder, fingers running over the metal arm that he knew so well.

“So, any other ideas for fun upgrades?” Tony asked, turning Bucky’s wrist in his hand.

“Just to harass Steve?”

“To harass Steve or anything else you think might be fun. For you. Whatever you want.”

“Well, I was thinkn’ maybe you could make it vibrate,” Bucky said, waggling his eyebrows at Tony.

Tony leapt to his feet and grabbed Bucky by the wrist, dragging him down to the lab.

He’d never gotten an upgrade complete so fast in his life.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are love!


End file.
